The Redheaded Minstrel
by Shirahebi
Summary: This is intended to be a children's story. Sesshoumaru is the dog demon, and the girl named Carmen is just my original character. S/OC pairing. Enjoy.


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The Redheaded Minstrel

Five-hundred years in the past, there was a quiet little village in a lush green valley nestled between four great mountains. You could see the clouds pouring like a river between its cracks and ravines, melting into the fog like cotton puffs and dressing up the sides of the mountains.

Except today, this village was not going to be quiet. Today was the summer solstice and the whole village was celebrating the event with a carnival. You could imagine all the booths, full of clothes like gold fringed forest green dresses, or food like dumplings and cherry pastries, or jewelry made of beads, shells, bones, or on rare occasions, precious gems, silver, and gold. But the best part besides the magic shows, juggling games, and knife throwing acts, was the dancing and music. Minstrels and bards from throughout the village came to play. Heck, many even came from other towns to participate, especially in the annual contest that would last until midnight. No one knew about a certain presence that lurked in the forests near the outskirts of the village. It came to watch the minstrels every year, or to phrase it properly, a certain red headed minstrel. But it couldn't stand to just watch anymore, and promised itself that things would be different this year.

Now this minstrel's name was Carmen, and she was the daughter of the village spinster. She secretly practiced as a musician every year ever since she could walk and talk. In her appearance, to put it straight, she wasn't ugly, but she wasn't a great beauty either. Imagine someone like Jane Eyre from that famous novel by Charlotte Bronte. Yes, she had a plain pale face, with tiny freckles dusted across her nose, and her eyes were almond shaped and watery blue. The one striking feature she did have was her blazing red hair wildly tumbling down to her waist that always managed to get things like weeds and leaves stuck in them when she was gardening or going on an outdoor excursion. Her eyebrows were considered to be too strong, and although she had a healthy appetite, she was too skinny for her own good. She could practically disguise herself as one of the village lads if she had the right clothing on and a cap to pile her hair into. Which was exactly what she was doing right now since the contest held at her village only allowed men to participate in. This was her fourth year playing in this competition, and she was good enough to be the winner all previous three times. Carmen enjoyed playing, but she also participated in the contest because her family was poor and needed the money that the winner would get. So here she was, going as some outsider again to please the judges and win the bread for her family, carrying her great grandfather's red fiddle to the village square. 

Along the way, Samuel, the son of the village elder, spotted her and said, " I see you haven't become a proper lady even in the last two years. No girl should ever be playing as a minstrel. I wonder why my father ever agreed with your parents to arrange our engagement." He was a head taller than her and had sandy colored hair, brown eyes, and an aristocratic looking face. Many girls considered him the most handsome boy in the village, but Carmen knew him for the plain snob that he was. 

Carmen bit back the urge to snap some sarcastic comment at him and said, " Sam, I know you don't like this but my family needs the money badly. If you keep quiet I'll give you this," and she pulled out a little pouch from her pants that had all of her week's pocket money in it.

Samuel smirked and said, "Done deal," and he took the pouch she offered and walked over to one of the food booths nearby.

Carmen was close to the last person to go, and by the time it was her turn to play, the pale moon was close to the middle of the sky. She stepped into the center of the square and faced the audience and the judges.

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At the sight of Carmen all her rivals were afraid

Like a demon out of hell her stunning jigs she played

Sweeping her bow gracefully across her scarlet fiddle

The notes shot out like bullets as they practically sizzled

The judges with their balding heads jumped right out of their seats

They said, By God, your fiddling is an unsurpassed feat."

Carmen tapped across the square and let her two feet dance

She lifted her bow in the end so perfectly balanced

But watching from the outskirts of the village was a beast

He said, " the music of that lad is to my ears a feast."

And so he burst into the square ( to never say the least )

Capturing Carmen he took off to his castle in the east

And so they traveled, Carmen kicking and screaming to be let down, while the beast, a great white dog practically the size of a house, attempted to ignore her as much as his sensitive ears would allow. They traveled for five days and five nights, across the eastern mountain of the village, past a large lake, stopping occasionally, and finally arriving at the beast's castle. They stopped at the entrance and the dog let Carmen down, backing a few paces away. Gray mist began to swirl around the creature, and it grew smaller, until its shape shifted to that of a man. When Carmen looked at him, however, she noticed that his traits were not completely human.

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There, before her stood a demon centuries old

With hair of moonlight silver and with eyes of amber gold

With claws as hard as iron and his canines plain in sight

He donned a cloak of midnight blue and clothes of silken white

Carmen walked to him and said, "what do you want with me?

You have your riches, castle, and your immortality."

He said, " Ah, with these things still, my life is incomplete

You must be my minstrel and play right beside my seat

If you try escaping, lad, you'll quickly be dismayed

I shall not be following you and you will have no aid

Wild things in this forest are less merciful than I 

They shall come right after you and never let you by."

Carmen could feel her knees shake, but tried hard to keep herself from screaming and running in the opposite direction. She took a calming breath and said in a surprisingly clear voice, " You have at least one thing wrong. I'm not a lad." She took off her cap and let her fiery hair tumble down. 

The demon raised one of his silver eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. " I don't care about your gender. All that matters to me is your talent, which you seem to possess plenty of." He led a surprised Carmen to her room where a hot meal and a bed were waiting for her.

The next few days, Carmen played her instruments for the demon, and as she lived with him, she saw that he was lonely, and took pity on him. The castle was big, empty, and devoid of life. Birds didn't come to sing, and all the plants in the gardens were withered away.

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So Carmen took her harp of silver

Creatures came to her, bewildered

Hearing fingers dance on strings 

And voice as sweet as candy sing

The garden that was dim and bitter 

Filled with birds that sang and twittered

Sunlight came to kiss its walls

Once withered plants grew green and tall

She coaxed the flower buds to open

With her singing as a token

This, the beast heard from his seat

And his frozen heart began to beat

She stayed like that for many days and the days spread into months. The demon grew to love her, but he didn't tell her because he feared her rejection of his inhumanity. And even in the winter, the gardens of the palace stayed lush and green because the girl's music continued to give it life.

But by the end of winter, Carmen was homesick. She missed her mother and the village children that used to come to her for her stories, and her sometimes strict father. She almost even missed Samuel. So she asked the beast to let her go for a visit. 

The first day she asked, he said," I have told you from the beginning that you would not go home to your village. Those words stay the same." She asked on the second day, and he refused her again. He was about to refuse her again on the third day when she started to cry. The demon felt guilt, and since he loved her too much to let her cry, he finally agreed to let her go for a visit.

And so they traveled again for five days and five nights, past the lake and across the great mountain into the valley where Carmen's village rested. When they came to the outskirts of the village, the dog let her down from his back and turned into the silver haired man. 

He pressed a small penny whistle into Carmen's palms and said, " I will not be coming into the village with you because the humans there hate me, but if you are ever in trouble and need me, play a tune on this whistle and I will hear you and come at night when no one could see me."

" I doubt that I will need this during my visit, but thank you for your kindness," said Carmen, and she took off towards her mother's house.

The village people and her mother and father were overjoyed to see her healthy and alive, and they asked what happened to her while she was away. She told them about the demon and how she was employed by him as his minstrel.

Samuel, the son of the village elder, came out and said," That's ridiculous. No woman should have a career as any kind of musician. She should stay home and do the housework and become a good wife."

Carmen's father murmured in agreement, " He is right. We should get you to marry Samuel before this monster comes to take you away again. You will have a legitimate reason to stay here and have protection as the wife of the future leader of this village."

"But father, I don't want to get married to him!" said Carmen.

" Nonsense. Be respectful for once and comply with my wishes. You will marry the elder's son whether you like it or not," and he dragged her into the house and locked her in her room so she couldn't escape.

Carmen worried for hours. She thought hard to get herself out of this mess, and she remembered the penny whistle that the demon had given her. She took it out from the pocket of her skirt and said:

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" With this penny whistle I will play a minuet

The beast will keep his promise and would surely not forget

If he were the last of men I wouldn't marry Sam

I refuse to make myself a sacrificial lamb

Hoof beats echoed through the air increasing in its speed

He appeared before her on a black and mighty steed

Hidden from all watchers in his hooded cloak of blue

He raised his amber eyes to her and said," I've come for you."

And Carmen told him of how she would soon be forced into marrying Samuel. The very next morning, actually. 

The demon said to her, " Don't worry about anything. Just remember to bring your wooden flute to the wedding, and trust that I will come to get you."

And Carmen did trust him because all the time she was with him, he had never broken a promise made to her.

So the very next morning, Carmen obediently slipped into her white wedding gown, threw the veil over her face, and was taken to church by her father. The priest arrived and it was time for the marriage ceremony to begin. Carmen grew worried because the demon had still not come to get her. She thought of her life with Samuel ( whom she didn't love ) as an unrecognized, demure housewife. She would never be allowed to play as a minstrel.

She stepped towards the alter and saw that the bridegroom was already there. By the village tradition, he was covered by a hooded wedding cloak, and his face could not be seen. Carmen's hope shrank. She would have to marry him.

The priest was getting ready to seal the marriage, and all the people of the village watched intently from their pews. The bridegroom took Carmen's hand to place the ring on her finger, and it was then that she noticed that his fingers had claws instead of nails. She smiled and let him slide the ring onto her finger. He then lifted the veil from her face and threw his hood off his head. Shocked gasps echoed through the stone walls of the church as the demon cupped her face in his palms and planted a kiss on her brow. The doors of the church burst open then and Sam rushed in, dressed in his night-clothes. He had his mouth hanging wide open at the sight of his fiancé married to the demon.

The whole congregation looked ready to kill the demon, and he said to Carmen, " play your flute."

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So Carmen bent to fetch it out from one of her white boots

Her fingers brushed the surface of the polished wooden flute

She played a lullaby for all the villagers to hear

The music made all go to sleep be they far off or near

The only ones remaining awake besides Carmen and the demon were Carmen's parents and Samuel. 

Sam came to her and said, "You've married yourself off to this monster? How could you do this to me?"

But Carmen said to him, " Sam, you may be the most handsome young man in this village, but I don't love you." She pointed to the demon and said, " and he's not a monster. Unlike you, he accepts me as a minstrel and for who I am." She took the demon's hand and they both walked out of the church.

Carmen told her parents," Don't worry. I'll come to visit you twice every year."

The demon turned himself into the gigantic white dog and he bounded away, carrying Carmen on his back. When they stopped along the way, Carmen asked the demon a question, " How did you manage to appear in Sam's place at the wedding?"

He replied, " I sneaked into his room the night before and locked him in his closet. Then, I dressed myself in his wedding attire. No one noticed that it was me because I was all covered up. Look, I'm sorry you ended up being married to me. I'll let you go free if you want it that way."

Carmen replied, " Actually, I don't mind it since I happen to love you. I'd rather stay by your side."

" But look at me," he said and showed her his claws, " I'm not a human."

" And I'm not a pretty girl," she said. " I'm skinny and flat-chested and I can't even cook well. Heck, I could pass as a boy if I cut my hair short and wear the right clothes."

At that they laughed together and decided to stay married. They went back to the demon's castle and Carmen continued to be his minstrel. They also kept the promise to her parents and visited them twice a year, and the demon gave some of his wealth to them so they weren't poor anymore, and he didn't turn out to be a prince, but that's OK, right?

THE END


End file.
